netapp Now Deduplicates EMC Primary storage; crosses the 10,000-system level

Deduplication Is One of the Fastest Adopted Technologies in NetApp History, Validating Its Importance in Primary and Backup Storage Environments

Singapore —August 04, 2008—NetApp (NASDAQ: NTAP) today announced the ability to deduplicate primary storage from other vendors with its V-Series family of storage virtualization solutions. The V-Series product line enables customers with storage systems not from NetApp to leverage NetApp’s award-winning Data ONTAP® 7G operating system for improved business efficiency and reduced data management complexity. NetApp® V-Series now allows customers who have EMC, Hitachi Data Systems, HP, or other storage systems to deploy NetApp deduplication technology to reduce redundant copies of data on these systems. Furthermore, by reducing redundant data, deduplication on NetApp V-Series will also help customers gain maximum value from their current storage investments by better utilizing existing storage capacity.

NetApp deduplication has quickly become one of the fastest growing technologies in the company’s history. The adoption rate of NetApp deduplication among customers has surpassed the 10,000-system level, with more than 2,500 customers deploying NetApp deduplication. While other storage vendors have relegated deduplication to just backup or archival data, NetApp has delivered end-to-end deduplication technology that serves primary storage and is fully integrated into its mainline storage operating system. As a result, customers are realizing the full benefit of deduplication across all tiers of data, including primary, backup, and archival.

“By providing our V-Series customers with deduplication technology that spans from primary to archival data, they are able to better control their heterogeneous data growth while reducing costs and simplifying data management,” said Brendon Howe, vice president and general manager, NAS and V-Series Business Units for NetApp. “It is apparent that our customers are rethinking their traditional approaches to data storage, and this announcement is yet another example of the value provided by NetApp V-Series systems.”

“Surpassing the 10,000-system milestone is a testament to the value that our customers place on deduplication in all storage environments,” said Patrick Rogers, senior vice president of Solutions Marketing for NetApp. “NetApp strongly believes that deduplication is an integral feature of any storage system, which is why all of our current FAS systems are available with deduplication technology that serves primary and secondary workloads. Deduplication is a great addition to our roster of storage efficient capabilities that includes thin provisioning, incremental-only backups, and virtual cloning, which drive reductions in power, cooling and floor space costs for our enterprise customers.”

Deduplication technology, which plays an important role in storage efficiency, continues to gain traction with customers who struggle with data growth and the issues that are associated with it. NetApp deduplication enables customers to eliminate redundant data quickly and easily, improving space and power efficiencies and reducing the amount of raw storage required.

Furthermore, NetApp deduplication strengthens NetApp's portfolio of space-saving technologies, which includes thin provisioning, Snapshot™ copies, and flexible clones. Like most of these space-saving technologies, NetApp deduplication is a feature of the Data ONTAP operating system that comes at no extra cost. NetApp is the only major storage and data management vendor to embed deduplication technology in all of its unified storage systems. By the end of 2008, all NetApp storage systems will include deduplication technology.

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